Can a student-athlete receive athletic scholarship
money and play college sports if grades are not met? Definitely…maybe. Starting August 2016, for Division I entering
freshman student-athletes, the following three-tiered qualification system
applies:
Full
Qualifier (all academic requirements are met): this requires completing the 16 core courses,
a 2.3 core course GPA, and the matching SAT/ACT score. A “full-qualifier” student-athlete may
receive athletic scholarship money and both practice and compete in games
starting the freshman year of college.
Academic
Redshirt: this
is the student-athlete that completes the 16 core courses, but with a core
course GPA between 2.0-2.299 and the meets the sliding SAT/ACT score for that
GPA. An “academic redshirt” may receive athletic scholarship money and practice
with the team during the freshman year of college. However, an academic redshirt may not play in
games during the first year. Also, the
academic redshirt student-athlete must remain academically successful during
the first term of college (completing 9 semester hours or 8 quarter hours) to
be eligible to practice for the remainder of the year.
Non-Qualifier: a “non-qualifier” is the student-athlete that
falls short of the above academic standards.
A non-qualifier student-athlete cannot receive athletic scholarship
money, cannot practice with the team, and cannot play in games during the first
year of college.
